Unlike the book compilations of comic strips that had appeared
beforehand in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Pirata
contains original, never-before published material. Medina began
working on the graphic novel in February 1994, announcing its
creation in PB5, the fifth Pugad Baboy
compilation, as the first of a series of comics called "The
Adventures of Polgas - Ang Asong Hindi" (The Dog Who
Isn't) with the supposed publishing date of May 1994. However, it
took slightly over a year to complete it, instead of the two months
estimated. Priced a moderate Php 85.00 in 1995 (about US$ 3.27 in 1995[1]), it is
42 pages of Pugad Baboy adventure centered on Polgas'
acquaintance and friendship with a Muslimpirate named Khalid.

Pirata has a more serious atmosphere compared to
Medina's previous work, both in terms of theme and materials
used—all pages of the first edition were printed on glossy paper, a
practice not very common for comics printed in the Philippines at that
time. It has been reprinted since.

In the tenth Pugad Baboy compilation, Pugad Baboy X,
Medina admitted that during the time he was making Pirata,
he was dealing with a lot of personal issues. Pirata's
serious tone, he related, was a reflection of his angst due to
these crises.[2]

Contents

Synopsis

Khalid, a repentant pirate, is rescued by the Pugad Baboy
residents after he is nearly killed by his erstwhile
brothers-in-arms in the Red Marlin Group under the command of Luna,
who are under the impression that he is responsible to the death of
their leader Hamid Mustafa. Polgas saves his life several times as
a Red Marlin hit
squad attempts to finish the job. As rouge elements of the Navy and the
Red Marlin Group finally catch up with Khalid and take him, Doc
Sebo, Tomas and Dagul captive, Polgas dons his Dobermaxx persona
and rescues the group which had been taken on board a ship in North
Harbor. Khalid in turn saves Dobermaxx's life as Luna was about to
shoot him from behind. It is soon revealed that Luna himself
murdered Hamid; the Red Marlin take him with them as Khalid allows
them to escape. The rogue Navy elements are taken into custody by
the authorities.

Khalid is later accepted as the Red Marlin's new leader. He
plans to surrender the pirate group to authorities and will soon
testify during the court martial of Major Velasquez, the rogue
Navy group's commander.

Subplot on Polgas'
origin

A relevant subplot in
Pirata relates the origin of Polgas' human-like behavior,
especially his ability to speak. It is revealed that his mother was
a pure-bred Golden Retriever named Cecilia owned
by a rich customs inspector
named Lupito C. Nakpil, otherwise known as "King Louie". This man
was so well-off that Cecilia had a diamond-studded collar and three golden
earrings. Cecilia had a mongrel for a mate and when she gave birth to
six puppies(four males and two
females) all of whom resembled their sire, Nakpil was furious.
Polgas' father soon disappeared and that evening, Nakpil's men
served asocena as
pulutan. Polgas and his siblings were separated from their
mother and Nakpil left home for his resthouse in Tagaytay,
taking Cecilia with him. Her forced removal from the presence of
her offspring caused one of her golden earrings to fall off, of
which Polgas retrieved.

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Dagul and
Polgas meet

The puppies soon went their separate ways and Polgas grew so
desperate that he decided to commit suicide. Lying down in the middle of a road, he
waited for a vehicle to run him over. One of the vehicles stopped
and the driver, Dagul, took Polgas home with him. He was cleaned up
and fed, but would not eat. After a week of no food intake, Dagul
took him to a veterinarian, who injected Polgas with a
sedative and put him under intravenous therapy. The vet also
discovered the golden earring in Polgas' mouth. Dagul had Polgas'
left earlobe pierced and had him wear the earring. Polgas grew to
trust his master, Dagul, who named him "Polgas"; from Dagul's
grandfather's name "Apolonio" and "pulgas", the Spanish-derived Filipino
word for "flea".

Origin of Polgas' speech
abilities

Dagul worked as a chef and was
fond of cooking exotic dishes. One of Polgas' favorites was a bebingka topped with chicken
skin cracklings, feta cheese, century egg and balut chicks. This concoction had a
teratogenic effect
upon him, triggered by the radiation coming off his master's television
set. The physical changes in Polgas included the ability to talk
and imitate his master's behavior, causing him over time to evolve
into a more human-like being. Tomas, Dagul's neighbor, soon noticed
Polgas' special abilities and with funding from an unknown philanthropist, the "special intelligence
unit" known as the Organized Canine Bureau was established with
Polgas, initially codenamed "Wisedog" as its first operative. His
first mission was to go undercover and take down the "Dognap King"
Atong Damuho as related in the story arc Wisedog.

Nakpil gets his
comeuppance

Polgas has not forgotten "King Louie" however; in his spare time
he would do research on Lupito Nakpil's whereabouts. He went
looking for Nakpil at his Tagaytay resthouse, but did not find him
there. He had reportedly gone into hiding in Zamboanga after
the 1986 EDSA Revolution when the new
administration began investigating his unexplained wealth. Polgas
assumed that Nakpil had taken his mother with him. It soon became
obvious that Nakpil had abandoned Cecilia in Tagaytay; as Polgas
passed by a market, he saw several drug addicts beating an
old, dirty dog. After dispatching the addicts, Polgas saw two gold
earrings on the dog's right ear. It was indeed Cecilia; his mother
recognized him and licked his nose one last time before she
died.

As the Red Marlin Group takes Khalid and the others captive,
Polgas recognizes Luna for who he really is—Lupito Nakpil. He later
exacts some measure of revenge as he repeatedly shoots Luna
pointblank in the face with his garapata gun. Luna was
taken by the Red Marlin when it was revealed that he murdered
Hamid. It is assumed that he was given a pirate's execution at sea
by the group.

Miscellaneous notes

Polgas' mother Cecilia's name is an homage to Pol Medina,
Jr.'s own mother Cecilia, further evidence that the cartoonist
treats Polgas as an alter
ego.

Polgas and Dagul both refer to the Red Marlin Group's hit squad
as the "Jackson
5", a reference to the pop quintet.

Medina misspelled the word "yacht" in the graphic novel twice as "yatch"
(sic).

Hamid was stabbed from the back on the right side of his body.
Khalid could not have committed the murder since he was left-handed.

Khalid claims Major Velazquez is a commander in the Philippine
Navy. However, Majors are Army
ranks, and their Navy counterparts are Lieutenant Commanders.

In the first edition of Pirata, a two-page readers'
corner can be found between pages 15 and 16 wherein Medina answered
readers' comments about Pugad Baboy. It was included
because the graphic novel was supposed to be the first of a
quarterly comic series. Later editions of Pirata omitted
this.

The graphic novel features the first and only appearance of
Dobermaxx's other car, the white Bullfox. Dobermaxx uses
the car, still with glitches which Joboy was trying to fix, to
drive to the North Harbor to save Khalid, Dagul, et al. from Luna
and the Red Marlin hit squad. In fact, its glitches get Dobermaxx
riling as the car slowly becomes unreliable. By the time he leaves
the Bullfox, it is already in a state of disarray. The
Dobermaxx of 2078 uses a future version
of the car, known as the Bullfox II. The
Bullfox's side profile closely resembles the Audi Avus Quattro.